Horimiya Review: A Feel Good Romcom
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Horimiya
Season 1 and The Missing Piece
9.5
Where to Watch Horimiya?
When the anime adaptation of Horimiya first came out in 2021, it instantly became one of my favourite romcoms out there. Right off the bat, you had some great characters. You had Miyamura, your typical loner, and Hori, your pretty popular girl. As this was a romcom, of course these two ended up together, but the way everything lined up was entertaining. After a chance encounter, Miyamura brings Hori’s younger brother home, and Hori sees a new side of Miyamura that she never expected. The rest from this point is history.
This review will cover the whole anime, both the original Horimiya, as well as Horimiya: The Missing Pieces. The anime adaption pretty much adapts the whole manga, so whether you read this story or watch it, the content is about the same. This right here is your spoiler warning. After this point, I will be covering a bit of everything, so be aware. With that out of the way, let’s get started.
So, first thing first, the plot. Horimiya, being a slice-of-life romcom has a typical plot progression. It’s the beginning of the school year, so our two protagonists make contact. After a little bit of time, the two end up together and the anime follows their journey until graduation. Pretty typical stuff. If you’ve ever seen any other anime romcoms, the setup is pretty much identical.
Besides the setup, most of the events are pretty predictable too. You have your Valentine’s Day, your school festivals, sports day, and any other typical event in a Japanese school year. Now, what makes Horimiya different from other stories like it are the events in between major holidays or festivals. Being a slice-of-life, you get to see the characters’ day-to-day lives, which are filled with so many different interactions. From a plot standpoint, Horimiya follows a typical flow, which shouldn’t surprise those familiar with the genre. The best part of the show is definitely the characters.
When it comes to protagonists, it’s great to see the chemistry between the leads of Miyamura and Hori. The two bounce off each other quite nicely, and as their relationship deepens, it’s great seeing them show more of their true selves to each other. The natural feel of the characters reminds me of My Love Story with Yamada-kunat Lv999. Besides themselves, Miyamura and Hori have great chemistry with the supporting cast as well. I think one of my favourite interactions is between Miyamura and Hori’s family, especially Sota, Hori’s younger brother, and her father.
I enjoyed seeing how fast they came to accept Miyamura as their own, even going to the point where they prefer him over Hori. They play off each other so naturally, it feels like a normal family. Besides family, I love all the interactions they have with their friend group as well. Each character feels unique, and the way they act around each other feels natural. What makes these supporting characters even better is that when it’s just them on screen, they can still carry the show. It doesn’t feel like the show is losing anything when we follow a subplot surrounding another character. It’s a nice change of pace.
This is mostly what Horimiya: The Missing Pieces is about. Where Horimiya season one is about Hori and Miyamura, Horimiya: The Missing Pieces is about the content the anime skipped from the manga. This has many more stories about the side characters, which were still enjoyable to watch anyway. That’s how great the characters were. No matter who’s on screen, it’s always an entertaining time.
Overall, Horimiya was a fun slice-of-life romcom that’s easy to enjoy. With only 26 episodes in total, 13 per season, this is a short anime that will leave you feeling bubbly and satisfied after watching this character-driven show.